On this night, it was more than a backyard game played alongside the grill and cooler.

Discs were flying, four at a time, precisely aimed and expertly smacked down in the direction of the can ... or Kan, as it's referred to among serious players. Or as serious as you can be about a game built around a flying disc and two cans, KanJam.

"We play a couple times a year with the kids," said Brian Helf of Albany, one of 20 competitors in the Times Union's first KanJam tournament, which ended with a tie-breaking sudden-death playoff game.

We asked readers who love the game to send us a few reasons why they should play in our tournament.

"It is an absolute addiction, and we literally have played for 10-12 hours straight," wrote Phil Carr of Green Island.

"It can be played in a suburban backyard, on an urban city street, on a sandy beach and even inside a house if there isn't anything expensive," wrote Matt Barron of Delmar.

Players came with their own flying discs, some with their own KanJam sets for warming up before official play began in the single-elimination tournament. Groups of family and friends gathered on the sidelines to cheer. The players turned the discs over in their hands a couple times, eyeing the goal, and they were off.

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"Get off to a fast start," said Marc Bailey of Delmar, Helf's partner.

Tournament winners Derek Green and Nathan Mailly, cousins from Westerlo who have been playing together for two years, focused on making three-point plays.

Mailly arrived at the tournament wearing a KanJam T-shirt.

KanJam is played to 21, with points earned when the disc hits or goes into the can assisted by a teammate who stands by the goal, 50 feet away.

Points are earned for hitting the can, but the largest number of points — three — are awarded for a shot when it lands in the can with the assistance of your teammate. A disc that goes through the slot in the can or into the can unassisted is an automatic win.

This wasn't the first tournament for Mailly and Green, though it was their first win. They traveled to North Tonawanda last year for the KanJam World Championship in the town where the game originated.